Can anyone point me in the direction of pics of Border reiver women's costume?
I know that Tudor would do but is there any evidence of actually what women up here wore during those times - the Victorians romanticised it-I want authentic!!

Pretty much what everyone else was wearing at the time. There was no real way of distinguishing them from anywhere else in Britain. Maybe they were the equivalent of "rural cousins that wear tweeds" when in town but still serviceably and fashionably dressed.

Wow -fantastic site! Thanks so much! Believe it or not the piper that I've been recommended to contact even appears on this site. What a small world we live in. On reflection that is a stupid comment -of course the world of the re enactor is small, it's what makes us so special!!

If your at the top end like Jan then you would be as posh as Dumfries , Carlisle, Newcastle or even Edinburgh could supply.
Then lower down the social scale you go, so the lower the posh value, like pix and rae.
but don't fall for the plaid wearing scum trap, border Scots just didn't do it and most riever family's were spread over both sides of the border.

The basic kirtle pattern will work well enough as a base. (You can also buy full sized patterns from the Tudor Tailor website). Besides, it depends on what station your aiming for. There were noble women up here (not huge numbers but they did exist.) and Townsfolk would dress differently to those out in the counrtyside. There were merchant's wives and a fair few operating their own businesses.
You can also get patterns for common women's clothing at Reconstructing History and Clothing of the Common Woman (or something like that ) which comes in 2 parts from the Stuart Press (check which period you're wanting to cover cause there's a range of them) are also helpful in building a wardrobe based on your station.
One of my Winter projects is going to be completely re-vamping my elizabethan wardrobe. Planning is fun!

To be honest i haven't got that far -I'll probably look to see when the Hetheringtons were at their dasterdliest(!!) and choose around then! As far as costume goes tho, presumably it isn't too important as things moved slowly up here. Is there a shortage in certain periods -is that why you ask?

At the higher end of fashion, with major local ports, diplomatic, trade and military travel to Ireland, the Low Countries, Germany and France etc etc etc there would be no "things moving slowly" due to being "out of the way".

The borders were very much more populated then than they are now and news and fashion would travel just as fast as anywhere else in reasonably densely populated parts of Britain.

I'm assuming you are going for C16th as a baseline though many forget that "reiving" happened in the late C15th(hobilars/prickers) up to the C17th(moss troopers/cravats). It's just that the C16th is the popularised bit and also coolest

Phil the Grips wrote:At the higher end of fashion, with major local ports, diplomatic, trade and military travel to Ireland, the Low Countries, Germany and France etc etc etc there would be no "things moving slowly" due to being "out of the way".

The borders were very much more populated then than they are now and news and fashion would travel just as fast as anywhere else in reasonably densely populated parts of Britain.

I'm assuming you are going for C16th as a baseline though many forget that "reiving" happened in the late C15th(hobilars/prickers) up to the C17th(moss troopers/cravats). It's just that the C16th is the popularised bit and also coolest

It was happening from the C14th. Huge great scope with some big clothing changes even for the poor.
Phil's right, the borders weren't a quiet backwater. They would probably have been slightly behind London fashion due to distance and, of neccesity, a bit more practical but they wouldn't have moved slowly.

There’s a country in Europe where they treat their ex soldiers with pride no waits for medical treatment after injuries received during service, no amensia from the government. Cant for the life of me recall where it is but I know exactly where it is not.